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Mystery of Chess Boxing 20th Anniversary Blu-ray Special Edition
To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Mystery of Chess Boxing, Industrial Light & Magic remastered the original movie for Blu-ray format. The Blu-ray edition contains extra menus, including 'Bonus Fights' and trailers for other movies. The film has been remastered in 1080p and the music and sound effects have been redone in 5.1 DTS Surround. The Special Edition is purely a release for the Western Market, as a late apology for not being able to enjoy the remaining movies of the Mystery of Chess Boxing Heptalogy. The movie was marketed to a younger audience, and is labeled as an 'Action Movie' as opposed to a 'Martial Arts' movie. The majority of references to chinese culture have been changed and replaced with more western influences, this was done at the discresion of Joseph Kuo, although some key elements, such as the rice eating have been kept intact. The release of The Mystery of Chessboxing Special Edition caused sales of Sony's Playstation 3 console to rise by 300% since the PS3 has no games. Changes made for the Special Edition The Special Edition is based on the original release of the 'International Version' and as such, doesn't include any of the extra scenes from the Director's Cut. Various scenes have been altered for the special edition. *The entire movie has been remastered into Anamorphic Widescreen, and contains both a 5.1 and a 7.1 Surround Sound track as well as the Pro Logic II Stereo track. *John Williams returns to re-compose the original music with orchestral arrangements. *The original voices have been re-dubbed by a new cast of all star actors. Chi Tzu Tien: Ian McKellen Ghost Faced Killer: Christopher Lee Cheng Hsing: Michael Gambon Joseph Kuo admits in the making of feature inluded on the disk, that he selected the three actors because 'they've all played wise old men before' *Additional scenes of Rice Bowls breaking have also been included, wheras in the original, only audio of breaking bowls could be heard. *Rice has also been digitally added into the bowls in scenes where there was originally no rice, various scenes of rice flying around the halls have also been added for comedic effect. *Additional residents and people are seen in the backgrounds of the town during the Chess Stall scenes. *The Cheng Hsing School has been digitally increased in size, with more students added in to compensate, this leads to various extended scenes in the kitchen. *Special Effects have been added for every Critical Strike inflicted on the characters in the movie in the form of sparks and shockwaves (and one case of a lightning strike) *The Chessboards and Chess Pieces seen throughout have been altered to resemble Western Pieces. Also, the characters' Chess Moves made during the game, as well as Chi Tzu Tien's instructions for his Granddaughter have also been altered to reflect this. (for example, the 'Pawn Forward Two' instruction is carried out correctly, she moves the pawn forwards two.) *The offending item viewed during Ah Pao's Brick Weight training has been digitally removed. *Fake Chi Tzu Tien now resembles Chi Tzu Tien even more thanks to CGI. *Ah Pao now correctly avoids falling into Chi Tzu Tien's well. The following Chess Boxing Matrix scenes are also absent, the same as the original 'International Version'. (The new scene shows Ah Pao jumping over the well) *A Knife has been Digitally added into Ghost Faced Killer's hands during various scenes. He throws the knife away once Chi Tzu Tien demands he 'Drop the Knife'. *The Ending is extended following the death of the Ghost Faced Killer. A Narrator (voiced by actor Gary Oldman) explains that peace has been restored to Hong Kong. The US version Credits roll, and various pictures of the characters show up onscreen with text explaining what they went on to do following the events of the movie. *The Ghost of Cheng Hsing School is now digitally added, played by Meng Fei, star of Joseph Kuo's 'Uneaten 28' and voiced by Jason Lee. Various extra scenes of comic relief have been added, as the Ghost is portrayed as a mascot-type character to appeal to younger children. (This comic relief addition led to some negative backlash from the fans, referring to the change as "Jar-Jar Binks syndrome") * Several well known pop and rocks songs play throughout the movie, for example, 'Where I Find My Heaven' by the Gigolo Aunts plays during the scenes of Ah Pao training and learning chess (the scenes are cut and edited to fit the video). Also, The Offspring song 'Meaning of Life' plays during the final battle with the Ghost Faced Killer. *Ghost Faced Mum has been digitally changed to look more like the Ghost Faced Killer. *Ghost Faced Killer no longer appears in the background of Ah Pao and Moley's first fight, instead he is replaced with a selection of CGI chickens.